Deal is reached for new Wal-Mart

Conservancy gets land, donation.

Updated 8:14 am, Thursday, May 24, 2012

Photo: William Luther, San Antonio Express-News

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Former Mayor Phil Hardberger speaks about the deal for a new Wal-Mart at Blanco Road and Wurzbach Parkway on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. Nearby are landowner representative Doug Edwards (from left), Wal-Mart South Texas Regional General Manager Julie Martin and City Councilwoman Elisa Chan.

Former Mayor Phil Hardberger speaks about the deal for a new Wal-Mart at Blanco Road and Wurzbach Parkway on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. Nearby are landowner representative Doug Edwards (from left), Wal-Mart South

Wal-Mart has agreed to give the Phil Hardberger Park Conservancy nearly 16.5 acres adjacent to the North Side urban oasis under an agreement that allows for a controversial Supercenter to be built at the southwest corner of Blanco Road and Wurzbach Parkway.

The park conservancy will also receive a $500,000 donation from the company that currently owns the land, along with two acres of a seven-acre plot at the intersection's northwest corner, adjacent to another portion of Hardberger's namesake park.

During a news conference Wednesday afternoon, City Councilwoman Elisa Chan announced several other terms that she and others had negotiated with the discount giant, including that Wal-Mart would save at least 75 percent of the trees on the 40-acre site.

Hardberger said a Wal-Mart representative told him that 659 of the 820 trees on the site could be saved, or 80 percent.

“We welcome Wal-Mart to this community, and we look forward to it providing access to healthy food and affordable merchandise,” Chan said. “We believe that the land use, the deed restrictions and the aesthetics on this development are compatible with the surrounding neighborhood and Phil Hardberger Park.”

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Chan was lauded for the agreement by several people who participated in the negotiations, including Hardberger and Chuck Saxer, who presides over Northside Neighborhoods for Organized Development.

Wal-Mart has agreed to build a 165,000-square-foot Supercenter, which includes a garden center and restricts hours of operation to 6 a.m. to midnight. Overnight parking will not be allowed, and the retailer will construct an 8-foot-tall wall between the store and the land it's giving for the park.

Designers have modified the trademark appearance of Wal-Mart stores for the North Side location. The Supercenter will have additional windows, covered vestibules, earth-tone colors and screening for storage, Chan said.

It's also agreed to limit curb cuts to one on Blanco Road, two on Wurzbach Parkway and one on Vista View. The agreement calls for five pad sites along Blanco and Wurzbach.

The new proposal is a long way from what Wal-Mart had originally proposed: a 180,000-square-foot, 24/7 Supercenter that would include a garden center, a tire-and-lube shop, a gas station, seven pad sites and a smaller buffer zone between the store, Hardberger Park and the North Castle Hills neighborhood.

Wal-Mart has also agreed to deed restrictions for the pad sites, which prohibit a long list of uses, including bars, adult book stores, head shops, tattoo and bingo parlors, and pawn shops.

Earlier this year, negotiations broke down and Wal-Mart's local lobbyist, Ken Brown, notified Chan and Wayne Fagan, a resident of and attorney for North Castle Hills, that Wal-Mart would move forward with constructing the Supercenter it had originally planned.

The councilwoman filed what's known as a CCR, or council consideration request, to seek a rezoning of the property. She threatened to downzone the property to a category that would allow for buildings no larger than 5,000 square feet.

It was her attempt, she's since said, to bring all the parties back to the negotiating table.

“This has been a very complicated case. Many people expressed grave concerns with the original proposed development, prompting me to file the CCR to slow down the process,” she said. “We had many factors to consider, such as the property rights of the builder and homeowners, concerns of the neighborhoods and business community, and compatibility of the park, which serves as an oasis of green space in this now fully developed area.”

The process and successful resolution, she said, proves that the interests of divergent parties can be balanced for a “solution that is acceptable by all stakeholders.”

Hardberger offered a nuanced take on it. There will be residents who won't agree with any sort of a deal and who wouldn't be happy with anything other than green space there, he said.

Downzoning the property would be difficult, and he said he saw no legal grounds with which a judge would agree.

“If one is willing to accept there is going to be a Wal-Mart,” he said, “I think we've done as good of a job as we could do for the community and the conservancy.”

And he tipped his hat to Chan for her efforts.

“I think Councilwoman Chan is really responsible for this happening,” he said. “She played a gutsy and a key role in making this work out. She gets a lot of good credit for making this happen.”